'Vinyetari 5', the spearhead of Catalan comics

BarcelonaWhen the first edition of the ARA Comic AwardIn April 2020, the situation of comics in Catalan did not invite optimism: according to data collected by the portal Comic Book IslandThe previous year, in 2019, only 184 comics had been published in Catalan, most of them aimed at children. Five years later, the picture is different: last year, in 2024, 411 titles were published in Catalan, with a strong presence of manga and children's comics, but also adult genres such as graphic novels and non-fiction. And in the first three months of 2025, 108 comics have already been published in Catalan, a figure that suggests this year's harvest will be even more abundant.

In this new reality of comics in Catalan comes a new volume of the anthology that collects the best short non-fiction comics presented at the ARA Comic Prize: Vineyard 5 (Windows), which will be in bookstores on April 9, contains the selection corresponding to the fifth edition of the competition, in which fifty works were submitted. It couldn't be missed. the winning comic, Indians of Barcelona, which depicts a conversation between screenwriter Lluc Silvestre and his son and serves as a reflection on the racism that exists in Catalonia against Latin Americans. Drawn by a master of vivid lines and visual dynamism like Ed Carosia, this comic opens Vineyard 5 with a denunciation of xenophobia that is transferred to the book's cover, a work by Carosia, who draws the Columbus monument stained with blood.

From Montserrat to the Women's Trust

Vineyard 5 It is, above all, a showcase of the vitality and talent of current Catalan comics. The eleven comics included are the spearhead of a Catalan comic that is awakening from its slumber. An example of this Do you want to come to Montserrat to see UFOs with Oriol Junqueras?, chronicle of an unforgettable excursion to Montserrat that the comic's scriptwriter, Joan Ferrús, made with a roommate and Junqueras, who was still mayor of Sant Vicenç dels Horts. With the torn and vibrant drawings of Camille Vannier, Ferrús blends the esoteric history of the mountain with the autobiographical side. "It was a story I'd always told everyone," he explains, "so I thought I'd do it in a comic to see if that would stop me from telling it."

One of the most famous cartoonists ofThe Viper stars Calonge, created by Ferran Vidal, a finalist for the 2020 ARA Comic Award and the foremost authority on this author. "He was the best cartoonist there was in Catalonia or Spain in the 80s," says Vidal, who through the comic also wants to pay tribute to this golden age of adult comics, a generation "that was very brave and faced very difficult things, but that, after Franco's regime, opened the doors to a modern, colorful world."

A The escape, however, it is the survival of Francoism that is the focus of this comic by Carla Berrocal (The barren land, Doña Concha) based on a story by Andrea Momoitio set in a center that the Women's Protection Board, the Francoist institution that repressed and traumatized thousands of women. "It's a topic I discovered through a podcast, and I contacted Andrea, one of the pioneering researchers, who very generously shared some of her research with me," explains the cartoonist.

And these are just a handful of the stories of Vineyard 5: complete the volume One date, all dates, by Vicente Perpiñá and Marc Zanón; Hell, by Xevi Domínguez and Montse Batalla; Drown, by Anna Ferrer; The frying pan, by Moisés Casanovas; Land, by Alex Martinez Ruano; Tourism and utopia, by Juan Lobo Hispano López, and The penultimate stage, by Martí Raset and Marc Zanón.